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Corrections Victoria

Corrections Victoria operates Victoria's adult corrections system, including prisons and Community Correctional Services. It ensures prisoners are safely and securely contained, and aims to rehabilitate offenders by addressing the underlying causes of offending behaviour.  Victoria's juvenile corrections system is managed by the Victorian Department of Human Services.

A Department of Justice service agency headed by the Corrections Commissioner, Corrections Victoria manages 60 Community Correctional Services locations across Victoria and 11 public prisons, as well as overseeing two privately operated prisons. Corrections Victoria's mission is to deliver a safe and secure corrections system that actively engages offenders and the community to promote positive behaviour change.

Corrections Victoria was established in 2003 when the Office of the Correctional Services Commissioner merged with CORE, the Public Correctional Enterprise. As a single agency, Corrections Victoria encourages more cooperation between services, bringing together all the roles performed by the previous organisations, including:

• strategic and policy functions such as planning and research, program development, and policy and service development
• statewide services such as sentence management, central records and the Adult Parole Board
• operational functions such as operating prisons.

The decision to merge grew out of a 2000 study into how Victoria's private prisons were managed. Commissioned by the Minister for Corrections and chaired by Mr Peter Kirby, this study made 54 recommendations aimed at streamlining the delivery of correctional services, improving the effectiveness of correctional programs and promoting greater cohesiveness across the Victorian corrections system. This report laid the foundations for Corrections Victoria.